Post on 14-Dec-2015
New Innovations in Plates and Sleeves
Rich EmmerlingTechnical Managerrich.emmerling@flintgrp.com770-366-5689
Rich EmmerlingTechnical Managerrich.emmerling@flintgrp.com770-366-5689
Flint Group
Flexographic ProductsComprehensive Expertise
in Flexographic Printing
3
Flint Group:
Powerful Roots
4
Flint Group History • November 2004 CVC acquired ANI Inks and BASF Printing
Systems.
• September 2005 XSYS acquired Flint Ink, a privately owned company with operations in USA, Europe, Latin America, Asia and India/Pacific.
• Integration of these businesses lead to creation of Flint Group, number two ink supplier worldwide.
• In 2007 Day International was integrated into Flint Group.
• 2008 Flint Group Printing Plates and rotec became Flint Group Flexographic Products.
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Flint Group Overview
• 2011 Sales: €2.2 billion (US$ 3 billion)
• Number of employees: 6 900
• >170 company sites in over 40 countries
• Global network of partners and distributors
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Flint Group Locations Worldwide
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Flint Group – Business Segments
Flint Group’s products are everywhere in our daily life and
can be split into two segments:
Packaging Products Print Media Products
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Flint Group – Products
Packaging Print Media
Europe Americas Asia-PacificPackaging and Narrow Web
Flexographic Products
• Packaging inks
• Inks for labels and other narrow web printing applications
• Sleeves and adapters for flexo and offset printing
• Photopolymer printing plates for flexo and letterpress applications
• Processing equipment
• Printing inks forheatset, coldset, sheetfed, gravure and specialty printing
• Lithographic printing blankets and sleeves
• Pressroom chemicals
• Pigments
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Flexographic Products - Extensive Product Range
Sleeves and adapters
Printing plates for • Flexible packaging• Label printing• Corrugated
(Pre- and postprint)
Ready-to-image ITR Sleeves
Processing equipment
Washout solvents
Printing plates for • Label printing• Tubes, cups and tins printing• Security printing• Pad printing• Embossing & hot moulding
Processing equipment
rotec®
nyloflex®
nylosolv®
nyloprint®
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Worldwide Presence
Main Offices• Germany, Stuttgart*
Subsidiaries • Australia• Brazil• China*• Denmark• France• Netherland• Spain• UK• USA*
Production sites
• Plates, equipment and washout solvents
• Germany, Willstätt**
• Sleeves and adapters • Germany, Ahaus**
• Czech Republic, Chrastava • USA, Asheville
Distributorsin more than 100 countries
* holding Technical Center
** holding R&D Center
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Market Shares World 2011:Photopolymer Printing Plates
Data Source: internal estimations
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Market Shares World 2011: Sleeves
Flint Group 42%
Rossini32%
AKL7%
others5%xymid
4%
Polywest10%
Flint Group
Rossini
Polywest
AKL
xymid
others
Data Source: internal estimations
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Topics
• The NEW nyloflex® ACE: The Benchmark for High Quality Flexo
• nyloflex® NExT Exposure Technology: High Definition, Flat Top Dots & Surface Screening
• Improvements With Solid Ink Density
• High Opacity Values Using Less Ink
• Fit For Flat Top Dot Technology
Introducing
nyloflex® New ACE
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nyloflex® ACE - Why Change a Proven Winner?..
• Introduced in 2001 quickly becoming market standard for high quality print
• Confirmed by numerous print awards throughout the years
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nyloflex® ACE – What Could Be Improved?
Performance and Cost
• Better solvent resistance
• Improved ink transfer, fewer press stops
• Compatibility with new plate technologies
Press RoomPlate Room
Reliability and Productivity
• Higher quality ingredients
• Stable color, less tack improves handling and is more user friendly
• No change in pre-press necessary
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• 62 Shore A (DIN 53505), same as previous nyloflex® ACE
• Designed for solvent, water and UV curable flexographic inks
• Improved overall image quality and color stability, with a brighter green color
The NEW nyloflex® ACE – Physical Properties
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0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Linear ACE NEW ACE
Comparison of ACE and NEW ACE
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Dot Percent on Print
Dot Percent on Plate
Dot Percent in File
• Nearly identical dot area
• Can use same files
• Verified in 100+ trials
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The NEW nyloflex® ACE – Customers’ Feedback “As a leading printer of
confectionary bars we ran 1,500,000 ft and no cleaning
of the plates was needed.”
“…label printing job with the NEW nyloflex® ACE Digital ran 200,000 ft, no stops for cleaning were necessary.”
“A difficult hygiene packaging job 650,000 ft could be printed without stop for
cleaning - constant print quality over the whole
production run.”
“High speed flexible packaging job,
1,650,000 ft printed without cleaning.”
“110,000 ft diapers job with showed excellent ink transfer and the reduced ink consumption for
achieving target density.”
“We printed 1,000,000 ft of pet food bags without cleaning (normally
we stop to clean after 500,000 ft); We were
able to run the job 175 fpm faster and saved 7.5 hours in
press time!”
“We ran 70,000 lbs of film substrate on the potato
chips job with only one set of NEW nyloflex® ACE
Digital where previously we needed to replace the plates
after 30,000 lbs.”
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• Outstanding performance with HD Flexo screening
• Designed to work well with both digital Round Top Dots as well as Flat Top Dots
The NEW nyloflex® ACE –
nyloflex® NExT Exposure Technology
Improving Solid Ink Density Combining Plate and Surface Screening
Technologies
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Topics
• Surface Screening - Solid Ink Density
• Surface Screening – Opacity
• Flat Top Dot Approaches
• Fit For Flat Top Dot Plates
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• Basic advice: Optimize parameters• Harder plate cushion, more ink, substrate treatment, etc.
• Problem is that an improvement HERE may take away from THERE...
1.2 1.4
Improve SID and smoothness
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• Better method: Surface Screening
• In use for a long time
• Many versions throughout the years, but idea remains the same – textured plate
surface reduces mottle through better ink distribution and coverage
• Screenings historically 300 – 600 LPI
Use 90-97% Tint in Solids
Plate Cell Patterning Digicap Groovy Screening
Minimize or control mottle
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Reasons for Dot Shapes
• The oxygen effect during exposure of digital flexo plates
Conventional exposurewith film negative and UV-A tubes
UV
UV UV
UV
O2
O2O2
O2O2O2
O2O2
Dot reduction
Digital exposurewith LAMS-layer and UV-A tubes
Dot reductiondue to theoxygen effect
Dot gain
UV
UV UV
UV
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Reasons for Dot Shapes
• The oxygen effect during exposure of digital flexo plates
Conventional exposurewith film negative and UV-A tubes
UV
UV UV
UV
O2
O2O2
O2O2O2
O2O2
Tonwertreduktion
Digital exposurewith LAMS-layer and UV-A tubes
Dot reductiondue to theoxygen effect
UV
UV UV
UV
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2X2 PixelCheckerboard
1414 LPI @ 4000
Digital w/ O2 Flat Top
MicroCellMC8
800 LPI @ 4000
Ablated Mask
Plate with different surface screens
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Plate= SolidLow Screens
(<800 LPI)
Mid Screens
(800-000 LPI)
High Screens
(>1000 LPI)
Digital
with O2
1.32
+/- 0.09
1.43
+/- 0.15
1.30
+/- 0.13
1.30
+/- 0.12
Flat Top1.35
+/- 0.09
1.43
+/- 0.11
1.54
+/- 0.11
1.64
+/- 0.12
Print results
Based on 22 Print Trials
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Crosslinking w/o oxygen effect
Solid screening with oxygen effect Solid screening without oxygen effect
The Potential
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What About White Opacity?
Can Surface Screens Using Flat Top Dot Technology Improve Opacity With Solid Whites?
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Purpose Gain an understanding of the optimum plate
durometer, cushion tape and surface screening
parameters to maximize white opacity readings
at high press speeds.
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Plates (High Speed Test)Plates – Digital (0.067”)
• FAM D and ACE D (Flat Top Dot)Cushion Tape – (0.020”)
• 3M 1920, 3M 1020 and 3M 1820Surface Screening
• Microcell - 4000 DPI
• 17 Patterns One Smooth Solid
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Press Conditions
Press – Wide Web Flexible Packaging
Anilox – 220 lpi/9.0 bcm
Ink – Flint High Speed Surface White
Viscosity – 28 seconds
Press Speed – 1200 ft/min.
Substrate – Polyester
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Test Target
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High Values Of Plate And Tape
Opacity Values
62.5
63
63.5
64
64.5
65
65.5
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FAM D 1920 FAM D 1020 FAM D 1820 ACE D 1920 ACE D 1020 ACE D 1820
Plate and Tape
% O
pac
ity
Contrast Ratio Function
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Values Ranked By Surface Screening Value
Opacity Percentages At All The Surface Screening Patterns
62.5
63
63.5
64
64.5
65
65.5
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SS1
SS2
SS3
SS4
SS5
SS6
NOSS
SS8
SS9
SS10
SS11
SS12
SS13
SS14
SS15
SS16
SS17
SS18
Contrast Ratio Function
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Second Test• Evaluate opacity using lower anilox volume and Flat Top Dot surface
screening parameters.
• Will there be a greater differences in opacity using lower anilox volumes?
• Will this reduce ink consumption while delivering acceptable opacity?
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Press Conditions
Press – Wide Web Flexible Packaging
Anilox – 440 lpi/5.5 bcm
Ink – High Speed Surface White
Viscosity – 28 seconds
Press Speed – 1200 ft/min.
Substrate – Polyester
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Opacity – ACE D & 3M 1820 Cushion Tape
MC 3X3C ACE D 3M 1820Opacity 64.1%
No Surface ScreeningACE D 3M 1820Opacity 60.8%
(440 lpi/5.5 bcm)
Contrast Ratio Function
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1.76 1.741.59 1.54
64.163.5
64.5
64.1
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2.0
440/5.5 (FAM D) 220/9 (FAM D) 440/5.5 (ACE D) 220/9 (ACE D)
Co
atin
g W
eig
ht
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59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
Op
acit
y
No SS - Coating Weight SS - Coating Weight
No SS - Opacity SS - Opacity
Coating Weight and Opacity
Contrast Ratio Function
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Conclusions
• Flat Top Dot technology allows for a greater
level of detail at the surface.
• Surface screening reduced pinholes and
increased the opacity.
• Increasing the modulus of the cushion tape
increased opacity.
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Conclusions
• Higher opacity levels were achieved using surface screening allowing for the use of lower anilox volumes and potentially eliminating the need for a double bump.
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FTD Approaches
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“Flat Top Dot” Technology
Film lamination on special CTP device similar to offset Trendsetter laser
Requires special laser, special film consumable, requires use of special Kodak plate material
Format up to 42x60” size
Kodax NX
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“Flat Top Dot” Technology
Lamination of film material to plate with some heat and pressure
Requires laminator and special film
MacDermid LUX
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“Flat Top Dot” Technology
DuPont Digiflow® (aka Digicorr)
Retrofit to older top lift exposure units or equipped on new exposure units.
Pumps nitrogen & oxygen gas mixture onto the plate
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“Flat Top Dot” Technology
Esko Inline UV
Retrofit or new machine with LED diode parts
Used for both flexo and letterpress plates
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nyloflex® NExT?
Flint Group‘s Solutionfor Flat Top Dots and Surface Screening
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NExT exposure process
acceleration of polymerization speed
reduction of oxygeninhibition effect
New high intensity UV exposure
oxygen exclusion
inertisation oxygen barrier
use of auxiliaries:inert gas (nitrogen)
use of auxiliaries:film consumption
additional processingstep (risk, costs)
inert gasconsumption and risk
high intensity UV irradiation for strong surface cure
+conventional UV tubes exposure
for through-cure
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New approach of Flint Group
• Two step exposure
• Combination of UV-A LEDs with UV-A tubes
Step 1 – High intensity UV LED surface crosslinkingStep 2 – Through-cure with conventional UV tubes
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nyloflex® NExT Operation
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Digitally imaged LAMS layer
and nyloflex® NExT technology
O2
O2O2
O2O2O2
O2O2
UV
UV UV
UV
Almost 1:1 copy
Precise reproduction nyloflex® NExT
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3 pt font (2540 dpi)(transmitted light)
3 pt font (2540 dpi)(reflected light)
NExT Plate Image Samples
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5% data @146lpi (2540 dpi)(transmitted light)
5% data @146lpi (2540 dpi)(reflected light)
NExT Plate Image Samples
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2% data @146lpi (2540 dpi)(transmitted light)
2% data @146lpi (2540 dpi)(reflected light)
NExT Plate Image Samples
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3% data @146lpi (2540 dpi)(transmitted light)
NExT Plate Image Samples
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nyloflex® NExT Exposure FIII
Mid size exposure unit
Format 920 x 1200 mm (47.2 x 36.2“)
nyloflex® NExT Exposure FV
Large size exposure unit
Format 1320 x 2032 mm (52 x 80“)
nyloflex® NExT – Processing Equipment
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UV LED moduleElectrical connectors
water connection for cooling
Housing with cooling profile
LEDs with optics and quatrz glass
water connection for cooling
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NExT UV LED Bar
Radiation length = 53.9“
Modular system → 12 x 4.5“
• 49.4” radiation width even with one module out
• Ethernet port for each module for remote diagnosis / recovery at
manufacturer
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The Benefits of nyloflex® NExT• High-intensity LEDs (> 800 mW/cm2) for highest productivity
• Consistent UV emission guarantees long-term repeatability
Production consistency, especially for repeat orders
• Easy-to-use – requires no additional processing steps or consumables (such as lamination, inert gas etc.)
• Suitable for all digital flexo plates – any plate type, thickness & format High flexibility
• Compatible with all standard prepress software & HD Flexo
• Easy implementation into existing digital workflow
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nyloflex® NExT
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nyloflex® NExT
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Thanks for your attention!
Questions?
Flint Group Flexographic Products
• Extensive product range
• Customer oriented service
• Excellent technical knowledge
• Global presence
• Innovative solutions
Rich EmmerlingTechnical Managerrich.emmerling@flintgrp.com770-366-5689